Whiskey Sunrise

by Missouri Vaun

  “I suppose I could take you there. We could go on horseback.”

  “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Royal tested the foam cap on the boiler. Deciding the beer was ready, she secured the cap to start the process where the alcohol vapors traveled through the coil and then liquefied and dripped into the large pot. She knew it would take about three days for this next mixture to be ready for bottling. If all went as planned, she wouldn’t be here to see this mix delivered. But she was going through the motions because she didn’t want any trouble from Wade before she was ready to leave.

  The sun was dropping behind the ridge when she began to gather things up. She had just thrown a bushel crate in the trunk of her car when she looked up and saw Teddy approaching on horseback. It only took a few more seconds for her to realize that Lovey was seated behind him on Midnight.

  What the hell? She stood dumbstruck as Teddy assisted Lovey with her dismount. Lovey slid off the back of the horse, the hem of her dress catching against the saddle as she dropped. She quickly adjusted it after landing on her feet.

  “Lovey, what are you doing here?” Royal couldn’t decide if she was happy or angry. Teddy should have never brought her up to the still. Why had he done that? She gave him a questioning look as he turned his horse to head back down the hill.

  “Don’t look at me. She said it was urgent so I brung her to ya. She’s been waitin’ for you nearly all afternoon.”

  “Thank you, Teddy.” Lovey brushed her hands against her skirt. She moved over to where Royal was standing, frozen like a statue.

  “Lovey, what the hell are you doing up here? You can’t be here. If my uncle Wade sees you he’ll kill me and probably you as well.”

  “I needed to talk to you. It’s important and it’s urgent.”

  “Well, come on. We’re not going to talk here. Get in the car.” She ushered Lovey toward the car and pulled away quickly, heading back down the steep rutted roadway. After a few moments, she took a side road, and when she felt they’d put enough distance between themselves and the still, she pulled off the road and got out of the car. She began pacing back and forth in front of the car with her head in her hands.

  “I can’t believe this. Lovey, I can’t see you right now. I’m barely keeping it together as it is. What are you doing here?”

  “Defying convention.”

  “What?” Royal turned to look at her, mid pace. That she’d quoted the poem Royal had sent through the mail wasn’t lost on her.

  Lovey was beside her, matching her step for step until she stopped. “Royal, listen. You left this morning without me telling you that Joe and I broke it off.”

  “What?”

  “Joe and I, we broke it off.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m in love with someone else.”

  Royal stared at her. Hope surged in her chest. Could this really be true?

  “Who are you in love with?” Royal had to ask because doubt wouldn’t allow her to hope that the object of Lovey’s affection might be her.

  “I’m in love with you, Royal.” Lovey placed her hands on Royal’s arms. “I’m in love with you. I think I have been since that night I found you hanging upside down in your car.”

  “But…what about your father…what about all the things you said to me about why we couldn’t be together? What’s changed?”

  “Everything has changed because I have changed.”

  Royal ran her fingers through her hair and blinked back tears. “Don’t play games with me, Lovey. I can’t take it right now.”

  “I’m not playing a game with you. I’m serious. I told my father that Joe and I aren’t going to marry. He knows I spent last night with you.” She dropped onto the wide front bumper of the car. “He told me if I left to come find you that I shouldn’t come back. And so here I am.” She looked at her folded hands in her lap.

  Royal sat next to her, leaning against the front of the car. “I’m at a loss for what to say.”

  Lovey laughed. “I thought you daredevil poets had a line for everything.”

  “Apparently not.” Royal leaned forward and put her face in her hands.

  “Royal, look at me.” Lovey stroked her back. “Look at me.”

  Royal turned toward her.

  “Royal Duval, I’m madly, deeply in love with you. Please say you feel the same way about me. I’m so sorry it took me so long to—” Her words were cut short as Royal pulled her into a passionate kiss. They stood up, never breaking their kiss, with their bodies pressed fully against each other. Royal gathered the fabric at the back of her dress in her fingers and pulled her close.

  “Oh, Lovey. I love you too.” She whispered the words against Lovey’s cheek.

  “Listen, Royal. There’s something else.”

  “Besides being madly in love with me?”

  “When I got to the house this morning, Boyd Cotton was there with my father.”

  Royal pulled away so that she could see Lovey’s face. “What?”

  “They have some plan that I admit I don’t fully understand, but the delivery tonight isn’t real. They’re trying to trap you and your uncle.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “You have to believe me. You can’t make this run tonight. That’s why I had to find you, to warn you.”

  “Okay, listen, it’ll be okay.” Royal put her arm around Lovey and led her to the passenger side of the car. “Let’s just get back to the house. I need a minute to absorb all of this and think it through.”

  Royal climbed into the driver’s seat and sat for a moment studying Lovey. She wanted to believe everything that Lovey was telling her. Especially the part about being madly in love, but she worried that her optimism was too quick to accept this change of heart. As if reading the doubts on her face, Lovey spoke.

  “I’m so sorry for everything I put you through.”

  Royal looked down at Lovey’s hand on her thigh. She was worried this was all too easy. What about Reverend Edwards? Surely he wouldn’t go down without a fight for his daughter.

  “What about your father?”

  “He’ll either come around or he won’t.” Royal covered Lovey’s hand with hers. “I only have one life to live, and I’ve discovered that I can’t live it without you. I can’t live my life for my father. I choose to live that life with you, if you’ll still have me.”

  Royal pulled Lovey into a tender kiss.

  ❖

  They drove back to the house and were just climbing out of the car when Royal saw Wade appear at the door of the barn. They got out of the car as he approached.

  “We’ve got a run tonight, Royal. A big one.” He looked at Lovey but didn’t say anything to her.

  “My car isn’t ready. The back is full of stuff from—”

  “We’re driving my truck because I’m not gonna risk this delivery in a car with only one working headlight.” He scowled at Lovey. “And I told you never to bring her around here again.”

  “Wade, Lovey is staying here tonight. That’s my decision and it’s not open for discussion.” Just as Wade was about to take a step toward Royal, her mother appeared on the porch, wiping her hands with a dishtowel.

  “What’s all this ruckus about?”

  “Momma, Lovey is staying for dinner and maybe for the night.”

  Wade stormed past them toward his place. “I’ll be back in few minutes to pick you up. Be ready.”

  “Why are we leaving so early? It’s barely dusk.”

  “Just be ready when I get back.”

  They watched Wade’s back as he disappeared around the corner of the house.

  “Royal, fetch Teddy for dinner and I’ll set another place at the table. You need to eat something before you leave for the night.” Royal’s mother was of the opinion that there was no crisis so large that it couldn’t be resolved by the consumption of a good meal.

  Alone in front of the house, Lovey urgently reached for Royal in the
waning light.

  “Royal, you can’t do this run tonight. Not after what I just told you.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you going to say something to your uncle?”

  “I should, not that he’ll listen to me.”

  “He has to listen. They want to shut your operation down. I think they plan to put you in jail, or worse.”

  “Let me just think for a minute.” She stroked Lovey’s shoulders and arms trying to calm her down. She entwined their fingers as she spoke.

  Before Royal had time to deliberate for long, Wade roared up next to where they were standing in an old truck. The wood-slatted truck bed was full and the contents covered with a canvas tarp. Wade stepped out of the truck but left the engine running. He had a sawed off shotgun in his hand.

  “Royal, get in. You drive.” He moved to the passenger side, never taking his eyes off Lovey.

  “I’m not going tonight, Wade. And you shouldn’t either.” She couldn’t stand her uncle, but she felt honor bound to at least try to warn him.

  His gaze was like a vise grip closing around her throat. She stepped in front of Lovey, blocking Wade’s view.

  “I said get in the truck.”

  “Listen, Lovey came to tell us about an ambush. We should listen—”

  “I ain’t taking direction from the likes of her.” He pointed in Lovey’s direction.

  “The likes of her is trying to save your sorry hide.” Royal knew better than to raise her voice to Wade, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “I don’t need savin’. Not by her and not by you.”

  “Wade, maybe you should heed Royal on this.” Royal’s mother had been standing on the porch watching the exchange.

  “Woman, you stay outta this!” He glared back at Royal, jabbing his finger in the air in her direction. “Now get your ass in the truck or Teddy can take your seat. Your choice.”

  Royal bristled at the suggestion that Wade would take her younger brother along on a run that was surely not going to end well. Teddy was too green, he only ever tended the still, he never went on runs, and if trouble struck he’d likely be the first one to get hurt. She couldn’t allow Teddy to go in her place.

  Royal turned to face Lovey. “I have to go.”

  “No, Royal, please—”

  “I can’t let Wade take Teddy,” whispered Royal. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  “Royal, please,” Lovey pleaded in a hushed voice.

  “You stay here, Lovey. Have some dinner. I’ll be back before sunrise. I promise.” She kissed Lovey’s forehead, then Royal climbed into the truck and Lovey stood, dumbfounded, as the vehicle spun around and headed out toward the main road.

  She heard someone step down the porch behind her. She turned to see that it was Royal’s mother. Lovey wiped at tears with the palm of her hand.

  “I couldn’t make her stay.” Lovey watched the taillights of the truck fade in the dust.

  “Lord knows I haven’t been able to make that child do anything since she was five.”

  “I just can’t believe it.” Lovey began to pace as she hugged herself.

  “Now there, everything is going to be okay. You just come in and have some supper. You’re as skinny as a rail.”

  “How do you stand it?” Lovey still couldn’t believe she’d failed to keep Royal safe.

  “Honey, you can’t control people. Even when you know what’s best for them.” She wrapped her arm around Lovey’s shoulder. “Come inside now and eat.”

  They entered the warmly lit kitchen and Lovey had the distinct feeling that she was lost in some bizarre dream. The entire scene was surreal to her. Royal was gone, and she was terrified about what was going to happen. And now she was just supposed to calmly sit and have an evening meal with Royal’s family. Maybe this happened all the time in the Duval household. Royal would make a run and her family would act as if everything was going to be okay. Even though at any moment the car could miss a turn or be fired on by federal agents. How did they deal with the stress of it all?

  “Well, who’s this now?” A booming male voice pulled her from her mental musings.

  “This is Lovey Porter, a friend of Royal’s.” Royal’s mother made the introduction as she served each plate with yellow crookneck squash and fried okra.

  “I’m Royal’s grandfather, Duke.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Lovey hesitantly took a seat at the table next to Teddy, who’d ambled in the door just now but had been quick to take his chair.

  “Poppa, would you say grace?” Royal’s mother settled herself into a seat at the other end of the table and reached out to clasp hands.

  Lovey was comforted and at the same time unsettled by the warm welcome she’d received from the Duval family. Only a few hours ago, her father had been quick to dismiss the entire clan for low character, and in her opinion, he couldn’t have been more misguided. They had shown her kindness and settled her at the table amongst them as if she were family, when in fact she’d been at the root of much heartache for the Duval household of late. Even still, they made no mention of it as second helpings were passed around the table along with a pan of cornbread.

  “Lovey’s father is Reverend Edwards.” Royal’s mother volunteered the information to Duke, who had been studying Lovey, but hadn’t said much.

  “You don’t say.” He entwined his fingers at the edge of the table as Royal’s mother spooned more okra on his plate.

  “And what’s your skill, Miss Lovey?” Duke set upon his heaping plate again. “Besides turning Royal’s world upside down.”

  Lovey nearly choked on the mouthful of lemonade she’d just taken. She swallowed with some difficulty and coughed into her napkin before she could speak. The old man clearly knew what was going on, despite his laid-back demeanor. “I’m trained as a teacher, Mr. Duval.”

  “Call me Duke. All my friends call me Duke.” He smiled at her and refilled her glass.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Royal downshifted into the next curve. The old truck had a high center of gravity, and she didn’t like the way it swayed in the curves with such a heavy load. They hadn’t been driving for very long when she began to argue with herself in her own head.

  Why did she leave Lovey? Lovey seemed sincerely upset and she’d just gone off and left her to do what? Run a load of whiskey with an uncle she couldn’t stand the sight of.

  She felt guilt was the root of it. It was her fault Ned had gotten killed, and if she hadn’t agreed to ride with him, he’d have bullied Teddy into it. He’d been a terrible father to Ned. And he would be just as cruel to Teddy.

  And hadn’t the woman she’d been pining over for weeks just professed that she loved her and her response was to leave? She must be losing her mind. Well, she’d done her share. She’d gotten Wade away from the house, away from Teddy. She was finished.

  Royal slowed the truck and pulled off onto the grassy shoulder.

  “What are you doin’?”

  “I’m getting out.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t need me to make this run. I’ll walk back and you can take the truck.” Royal climbed out. She thought Wade would just slide over and take the wheel, but instead he walked around the front of the truck carrying the shotgun he’d had at his side since they left the house. Royal turned to look at him in the glare of the headlights.

  “Get back in the truck, Royal.” He raised the shotgun in her direction.

  “What are you doing? Are you gonna shoot me?” She knew her uncle disliked her, but blood was thicker than water, and she’d never have thought one of her own clan would go so far as to turn on her to this extent.

  “You’re gonna get back in and drive this truck. We have a delivery to make.”

  “Why do you care if I’m in the truck or not? This way you keep as much of the cash as you want. Then you and Boyd can do your little backroom deals and leave me out of them.” Royal started to walk away when she heard him cock the hammer on the gun,
first one barrel, then the second. She stopped and slowly turned toward him.

  “I’m sick of you and your queerie ways. I’m sick of the preference you enjoy because your daddy was the favored son. It’s your fault Ned is dead.” He took a step toward her, with the barrels raised. “You’re gonna drive and that’s the end of it. You owe me some respect after all you put me through.”

  Wade must have been out of his head with grief. That, coupled with his general ill disposition, was causing him to take it all out on Royal. Her mind raced along with her heart. The last thing she was going to do was climb back in that truck and face God knows what down the road with a man who clearly wasn’t in his right mind. He’d have to shoot her first.

  “I’m not gettin’ in that truck with you. I’m done, Wade.”

  “You don’t get to say when you’re done. I say when you’re done.” Wade moved toward her with the shotgun raised. “Get your ass in and drive.”

  Wade took another step toward her, but just as he did, they both turned at the sound of a car rounding the curve in the road behind them. Headlights blinded Royal for an instant before she dove toward the shoulder on the opposite side of the road.

  As the car slowed to move around Wade, who was standing near the center of the road, she used those moments to scramble up the bank under cover of thick mountain laurel. She heard Wade cursing behind her, and twigs snapped off along with leaf debris as he discharged the shotgun in her direction but missed her by about ten feet. Her heart pounding, she kept crawling up the hill keeping close to the ground until she found a dead tree to hide behind.

  She heard him cursing and breathing hard as he tried to follow her ascent.

  “Royal, you get back here. I mean it!”

  She sank lower behind the tree, hoping he wouldn’t climb any farther. Royal never got another glimpse of Wade, and after ten minutes or so she heard the truck engine come to life down below.

  Holy shit. She leaned her head back against the old felled tree trunk and let out a long sigh. Lovey had probably saved her life.

  Just to be sure, Royal walked back a little way, following the crest of the ridge. She wanted to see the truck actually head down the road and then she’d feel safe enough to strike out toward the house. The truck didn’t drive off right away. Maybe Wade was waiting to see if she’d come back. He must really have believed she was crazier than he was. She kept walking just below the ridgeline until she could get a clear view of the road for the next quarter mile. What she saw along the road in the moonlight stopped her in her tracks.